CALL FOR AID

Otago Daily Times, Issue 24945, 18 June 1942, Page 3

CALL FOR AID

CHINA'S URGENT NEEDS OFFENSIVE IN PACIFIC >(Rec. 10 p.m.) CHUNGKING, June 16. The Chinese abandoned Kwangfeng after a battle lasting all night, in which there were 1000 Japanese casualties. The enemy has continued to advance to the west. The railway gap between the two Japanese columns is now less than 80 miles. The Chinese seized tjje initiative in the Nancheng region, and are now storming the city, which the Japanese captured recently. Heavy fighting has been revived along the middle of the Yangtse River. In the Hupeh province the Japanese entered Hosueh, where fierce fighting continues. The Chinese spokesman called urgently for an immediate big offensive in the Pacific, as the Chinese fight with dogged fury to prevent the Japanese pincers from closing on the Chekiang railway. He stressed the urgency of not allowing the Japanese to rest, and added that if Japan was regarded complacently, she might become the most difficult Axis Power to defeat.

A Chinese military spokesman acknowledged that the Japanese are steadily advancing along the ChekiangKiangsi railway, but the Chinese are still holding 80 miles of the middle section between Yingtun and Shang-jao calmly resisting the huge Japanese pincer movement according to prearranged plans. The spokesman explained that one Japanese column numbering 100,000 is pressing to the west from Chekiang, aiming at the Chinese position around Chang-jao, while a second column, estimated at 50,000, is driving to the south-east against Yingtun. The first column has reached a point a few miles from Shang-jao. and the second has been halted near Tengpu, while the Japanese are rushing reinforcements to Kiangsi through the Yangtse River port of Kiukiang. The spokesman asserted that the Chinese are adopting the " scorched earth " policy everywhere. They tore up the railway before their retreat, and in consequence the Japanese would gain no immediate advantage from its seizure.